After
completing my Masters Degree from the University of Mumbai (India),
I decided to join the laboratory of Dr John Coates with a keen
interest in working with anaerobic microbes. I became fascinated
by the diverse metabolic capabilities of these organisms that
could be harnessed in the bioremediation of several toxic wastes
from the environment. My area of study varied from hydrocarbon
degradation, metal reduction to bacterial interactions with recalcitrant
humics substances. I received my PhD degree in Dec 2004 from
University of California, Berkeley and my dissertation work was
titled ‘Anaerobic
monoaromatic hydrocarbon degradation by a novel chlorate-reducing
organism, Dechloromonas aromatica strain RCB. I am currently
a postdoctoral researcher in the microbial ecology lab of Dr. Terry
C. Hazen. My current projects include looking at stress response
pathways in metal and radionuclide-reducing bacteria in the environment,
field studies of bioreduction of chromium, energy and nutrient
cycling in the deep subsurface of Earth and Mars and diverse metabolisms
of sulfate-reducing organisms in the environment.
Publications:
- Coates J.D., Chakraborty R.,
Lack, J.G., O’Connor,
S.M., Cole, K.A., Bender K.S., and Achenbach, L.A. (2001) Anaerobic
benzene oxidation coupled to nitrate reduction in pure culture
by two novel organisms. Nature411:1039-1043.
- Coates J.D, Chakraborty R., O'Connor, S.M, and
Thieme, J. (2001) The geochemical effects of microbial humic substances
reduction. Acta hydrochimica et hydrobiologica 28(7):420-427.
- Coates J.D, Cole K.A, Chakraborty R,
O’Connor
S.M, Achenbach L.A. (2002). The diversity and ubiquity of bacteria
utilizing humic substances as an electron donor for anaerobic respiration. Applied
and Environmental Microbiology 68(5): 2445-2452.
- Lack J.G, Chaudhuri S. K, Chakraborty R, Achenbach
L.A, Coates J.D. (2002) Anaerobic biooxidation of Fe(II) by Dechlorosoma
suillum. Microbial Ecology 43: 424-431.
- Bender K.S, Chakraborty R,
O’Connor S.M,
Coates J.D, Achenbach L.A. (2002) Sequencing and Transcriptional
Analysis of the Chlorite Dismutase Gene of Dechloromonas agitata and
Its Use as a Metabolic Probe. Applied and Environmental Microbiology
68(10): 4820-4826.
- Coates J.D, Chakraborty R, McInerney M.J, (2002)
Anaerobic benzene biodegradation- a new era. Research in Microbiology
153: 621-628.
- Coates J.D and Chakraborty R. (2003)
Anaerobic Bioremediation - An Emerging Resource for Environmental
Cleanup. In, Bioremediation: A Critical Review. Horizon Scientific
Press (Editors: I.M. Head, I. Singleton and M. Milner
University of Newcastle, UK).
- Chakraborty R and
Coates J.D. (2005). Hydroxylation and carboxylation – two
crucial steps of anaerobic benzene degradation by Dechloromonas strain RCB. Applied
and Environmental Microbiology. 71(9): 5427-5432.
- Bender K. S, Shang C, Chakraborty R,
Belchik S.M, Coates J.D, and Achenbach L.A (2005). Identification,
characterization, and classification of genes encoding perchlorate
reductase. Journal Of Bacteriology. 187: 5090-5096.
- Chakraborty
R, O’Connor S.M, Chan
E, and Coates J. D (2005) Anaerobic degradation of BTEX compounds
by Dechloromonas strain RCB. Applied and Environmental
Microbiology. 71(12): 8649-8655.
- Tang Y.J*, Chakraborty R*, Martin H.G, Chu J,
Hazen T.C, Keasling J.D (2007) Flux analysis of central metabolic
pathways in the Fe (III)-reducing organism Geobacter metallireducens via
13C isotopic labeling. Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
73(12): 3859-3864
- Mukhopadhyay A, Redding A.M, Joachimiak M.P, Arkin A.P. Borglin
S.E, Dehal P.S, Chakraborty R, Geller J.T, Hazen
T.C, He Q, Joyner D.C, Martin V.J.J, Wall J.D, Yang Z.K, Zhou J,
Keasling J.D (2007). Cell wide responses to low oxygen exposure
in Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough. J.
Bacteriol
- Hazen T.C, Chakraborty R, Gregory I.R, Bowman
J.P, Jimenez L, Zhang D, Fleming J.M, Sayler G.S, Pfiffner S.M,
Brockman F.J. (2007) Use of Gene Probes to Assess the Impact and
Effectiveness of Aerobic In Situ Bioremediation of TCE
and PCE (submitted). Archives of .Microbiol.
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